The audit, which was compiled last year to determine the compliance of food businesses with labelling and traceability requirements, found that 42% of premises visited had labelled meat that did not comply with current labelling legislation.

The report also found cases where a number of poultry products were arriving into Ireland with labels that would indicate they were Irish. In these instances, the legal requirements were met but the brand was named after a well-known Irish region, thereby misleading the consumer. However, the report was never published because the number of businesses audited (90) was considered too low.

"Both the departments of health and agriculture have been aware of the contents of this report for over 12 months, " said Dan Neville TD.

"Consumers have rights and should be able to tell easily from the labels on food where exactly it comes from. This is particularly worrying given the current climate of poultry and bird flu, " he added.

Minister of State with special responsibility for food safety Tim O'Malley argued that 90 food businesses from a national figure of more than 44,000 was a very small sample and that there was a strong legal framework in place in the area of food traceability and recall.

"Nevertheless, this will be further strengthened by regulations being drafted in my departmentf which will provide for sanctions and penalties where food business operators do not have proper traceability and recall systems, " he said.

The report was based on material gained from spot checks that were carried out on 90 food premises, including retail outlets, wholesalers, distributors, hotels and restaurants. It found that "in the majority of premises visited, there were no adequate systems or procedures for recall and/or traceability."

The report found cases of Belgian chicken caps being imported to Ireland before being skinned and cut into chicken fillets. They were then packaged and labelled as 'Produced in Ireland' and an Irish plant number was assigned to the packaging.

Other labelling breaches included beef products marked as Irish when they originated in South America, imported salmon labelled and packaged as Irish and the 'use by' date not being adhered to.

"Pork from the United States of America, chicken from south east Asia, lamb from Thailand, beef from Brazil and vegetables from Israel are coming into this country and being passed off on restaurant tables as Irish food or reprocessed here and sent out as Irish products, " said Neville.

"It is disgraceful that we can bring a chicken fillet from Asia into this country, spread breadcrumbs on it, and call it an Irish chicken fillet."